Sign.



H. M. SOHENSON & J. A. WESLEY;

SIGN. APPLICATION FILED JAN- 26. 19v.

Patenwd M24112, 1918.

V will appear hereinafter.

ire srnrnsraraiar ensues.

VHENRY M. sonnnsonnnn JOSEPH A. WESLEY, or cnrcaso, TLLINOIS, ASSIGNORSor ONE-THIRD TO GEORGE W. LEE, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SIGN.

masses.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY M. Swanson and JOSEPH A. vVnsLnY, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, inthe county of Cook and Stateof'lllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signs,of which the following isa specification. V

Our invention relates to signs, and has for its principal object theprovision of asign adapted for use both at day time and at night. I p YA further object is the provision of a simple and eficient sign ofConstruction in which the parts making up the letters or characters canall be removed from the front part of the sign without disturbing any ofthe interior portions.

. A still further object is the provision of a sign of the charactermentioned in which the letters or characters each comprise a pluralityof pieces of transparent material so that any one of'said portions oftransparent material can be renewed without renewing the whole letter orcharacter. I Other objects An embodiment of our invention is shown inthe accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure liis afragmental front view of a sign embodying ourinvention.

Fig. 2 is a section of the sametaken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental view in perspective showing details ofthe construction; and 1 Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmental sectionsshowing slight modifications in the construction.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, we have shown a signsuitable for use in the day time, and also provided with illuminatingmeans for illuminating it at night for use after dark. In the formshown, an illuminating container or box 10 is provided made up ofsuitable walls 11, 12 and 13. The box 10, which may be made up of sheetmetal or any other desirable substance, is provided with suitableilluminating means, such as the electric lamps 14 indicated. The frontside of the illuminating box 10, in its wall 12, has openings formed toindicate the desired characters or letters which are to make up thesign. l/Ve have'shown but one letter, and from this it will be obvioushow Specification of Letters Patent.

' formed Patented Mar. 112, was.

all other letters and characters may be An importantfeature of ourinvention is the'construction wh ch will permit the transparent partsmaking up the letters or chariacters to be removed from the front of thesign without having to be taken through the box'lO. A preferable Way ofmaking up these letters or characters is to take the sheet metal strip15 and bend it longitudinally, as

indicated in Fig. 3, The strip 15 may be a single piece of metal bentaround and forming the entire outline for the letter or character, or ifdeslred, may be, made up of more than one piece placed endto end. After.

character, and cut away ormitered as at.18

at the inner corners of the letters or characters, so that the flange 16does not overlap in making up the outline. The outer or front edge ofthe letter orchara'cter has a portion of the strip '15'bent back uponitself, as indicated at 19 in Fig. 3, with the extreme edge portion 20extending laterally over the openingof plate 12 in the box and forming ashoulder upon which the transparent material is secured. The portions 19and 20 are preferably cut away or mitered similarly to the cutting awayor mitering'1'8 already described.

We providea transparent sheet or plate 21 which may be of glass, eitherclear, frosted, colored or otherwise, or any other desirable substancewhich will permit the passage of light from the interior of the box toshow up the r letters or characters in the dark. Any suitable means maybe employed for securing the transparent plate 21 in the letter orcharacter outline. Ne preferably use a lead frame member 22, which ispreferably made up of the usual lead members used in making leaded glassnow in common use. Any other suitable form of frame may be employed,when so desired. The frame 22 rests on the shoulders 20 and against theportions 19, substantially filling the space between the letter orcharacter outline. The frame is held in the letter or character outlineby means of drops of solder 23, or their equivalent. Different parts ofthe letter or character are formed of separate portion of the letter orcharacter.

pieces of transparent material, such as indicated at 21, 24, 25 and 26.Between the adjacent portions of these pieces, the frame 22 extends sothat in case one of the pieces without removing the entire transparentIt will also be apparent that with the transparent portions mounted inthe manner indicated,

from the outside of the sign without disturbing the interior of the box10 at all.

In Figs. 4 and we have shown slightly modified forms of the strip 15. InFig. 4: we

1 have shown the portions 16 as being secured to the outer side of plate12 of box and the portion 20 as being formed of a separate piece ofmetal having a portion 27 resting against the strip 15 with solder 28,or its equivalent, securing the shoulder to the strip 15. In Fig. 5, theportion 20 having its supporting part 27 inserted between the portions19 and 15 with solder 29, or its equivalent, holding said portionstogether.

From this it will be apparent that the shoulder 20 may be formed innumerous ways.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred forms of ourconstruction, we

do not desire to be limited to the precise 30 details set forth, butdesire to avail ourselves of such variations and changes as come withinthe scope of the appended claims.

We claim: l 1. A sign comprising a plate having an '35 opening thereinshaped to represent a character; outwardly extending walls on the platedisposed around the edges of said opening; shoulders on said wallsintermediate the front and rear edges thereof and extending over andpartially covering said opening; a substantially transparent sheetlarger than the space between said shoulders, resting on said shouldersand removable outwardly from the front edges of said walls;

the front and rear edges thereof and. ex-

tending over. and partially covering said opening; a frame larger thansaid openlng 5 is broken, such broken piece may be removed and meanssecuring said sheet on said' shouh 10 they may be removed and placed inposition plate disposed around the edges of said open 5o ing; shoulderson said walls intermediate disposed between the front edges of saidwalls, resting on'said shoulders and remov able from the front edges ofsaid walls; means securing said frame to the front edges of said walls;and a light transmitting sheet in said frame. e

3. A sign comprising sheet metal strip forming the outline of acharacter; shoulders on the adjacent sides of the portions of said stripspaced from the front edge of the latter; a frame resting on theshouldersbetween the front edge portions of said strip, said frame beingtoo large to pass between said shoulders and removable forwardly frombetween said front edge portions;

In testimony whereof we of January A. D. 1917.

HENRY M. soRENsoN.

JOSEPH A. WESLEY.

denies at? this patent may he obtained for five cents each, byaddressing: the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D, 3.. V

. '79 means securing the frame to said metal have signed our "names tothis speclfication, on this 23rd day

